Edinburgh Tug Accident

[BlueRobin]

Does anyone know what happened? Apparently a well-known Coventry-based freight airline was being tugged out with engines running last night/early this morning. After disconnecting, the aircraft rolled forward and allegedly one of the props struck the tug. Presumably the tuggie was still in there :eek: Police have impounded the aircraft. Was it an Electra or ATP?

[Atcham Tower]

Hmmmm. Tug drivers at Liverpool refused to pull prop aircraft, only push them. This became SOP. Now we know why...

[Flap40]

There were lots of blue lights surrounding an MNG F27 when we landed last night. It looked as though foam had been used and airfield ops were reporting debris in the grass near the taxiway. It is still parked there this morning.

[AEUENG]

Just seen the pictures of it. The stbd prop struck a GPU and the stbd engine has dropped from its mounts and is hanging down by about 30 degrees.

The tug driver should buy a lottery ticket tonight!

[BEagle]

From the Press Association:

Probe after cargo plane damaged

An investigation was launched after a cargo aircraft was involved in a collision at a Scottish airport on Friday night.
The Fokker 27 freight plane, operated by Neptune Airways, collided with a ground power unit at Edinburgh Airport at around 9.15pm.
No-one was injured but one person was treated for shock.

[Miles_JAN]

Reporter obviously had a scanner to hand..."neptune airways.."

[Nightstop]

A very unfortunate accident, I hope the tug crew are OK. I remember well the unfortunate accident at EDI stand 5A many years ago....a GPU (Servisair?) accidentally reversed into the running starboard prop of an Air UK F27 and the driver was decapitated.

[marsipulami]

So can you post some pics? As a former F27 driver, I'm curious to see them.

[iws]

.............. and, of course, the Edinburgh Evening News just had to have the headline:

"Investigation after cargo plane crashes"

:ugh:

[eoincarey]

Was at work last night when afore mentioned incident occurred (Servisair, EDI).
Told on the radio by the Cargo guys that the captain of the Fokker had been in a mad rush to get away that he had taxied forward before everything had been cleared (there was mention that he may not have left the brakes on) after being turned into wind, and proceeded to dig his nice F27 blades right into our GPU- lots of pretty fireworks apparently.
Fits with what my mate had said, who left the a/c 10 mins prior after dispatching it. Said the skipper had been getting rather pushy about departing on time (despite several late requests for additional weather).

Unfortunately this leaves us one GPU short for the upcoming Rugby charters for Scotland v France tommorrow! And no, there was no decapitating Tug drivers involved!

ETC

[K.Whyjelly]

Would this be the blue Fokker with the "TC" registration by any chance?

[Miles_JAN]

Sounds like it...that's 2 they've chowed through in the last year or so...

Have worked with some of the MNG guys, most of them are a good lot.

[bnt]

"one person was treated for shock"

If that one person was the tug driver, "shock" is the understatement of the year. In that position, I'd be a jibbering wreck, in need of fresh underwear. :eek:

[groundhogbhx]

Same a/c that had the engine failure going into CVT last week?

[BlueRobin]

Yes wasn't it last Feb when another of their F27s backed into a hangar overnight during some high winds? Tail damaged and subsequently broken up iirc.

There is a photo of the Edinburgh F-27 here (http://www.airliners.net/photo/MNG-Kargo/Fokker-F-27-500-Friendship/1323748/L/)

[surely not]

Where is Rainboe to pass comment on this accident?

He had plenty to say on the Astraeus incident at Gatwick which he blamed an inept tug driver for. So hopefully he will be on here soon to show that he is a reasonable man after all, and he'll berate the pilot for some very shoddy work with unemployment as a suggested result.

Doubt we'll see him though.

This nearly happened many years ago at Gatwick when a Genair Shorts 360 had just started both engines, the crew were head down in the cockpit and didn't see that a/c was starting to move forward towards the cab of the GPU because the brakes were off. Fortunately the engineer could see what was happening and managed to get the GPU under way and away from the advancing prop at some speed. The crew looked up, slammed on the brakes and a disaster was averted. Because everyone knew each other there was a collective deep intake of breath, apologies offered and accepted, the a/c departed and life returned to normal. I don't believe there was ever an incident report raised and both the flight deck have gone on to have very successful careers with major companies and the engineer has long since retired.

[xetroV]

I don't believe there was ever an incident report raised
In other words: an opportunity was missed to learn something. Who knows, perhaps some F27 crew could have benefitted from that experience, had it been shared... :hmm:

[surely not]

Possibly xetroV, but then the crew in the incident I mentioned were not under time pressure and hassling the ground crew to act more quickly as has been reported in the incident yesterday, so perhaps it wouldn't have it taught them anything. Plus it was 22 ish years ago!! Now I know I'm getting old :{

[akerosid]

Seen here in JER in happier days:

http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6067949&nseq=41

[Ranger 1]

I wonder who removed the chocks, as they should be the last thing to be removed prior to taxy after all equipment is clear followed by hand siganals.
Or was it a case of the aircraft jumping the chock/s?

I always used to put the GPU infront of the nose, never to one side of the aircraft, 2 reasons for this;
1. in case the aircraft jumped the chocks, it was between you & the aircraft.
2. The crew could see it especially,with the Obstruction light on the top, having said this we shall have to wait the outcome of the investigation.
Pleased to see that no one was hurt.
:ok:

[Leezyjet]

Hopefully a lesson learned by some other members of the f/deck community who are constantly pushing ground crews to work faster - and often not in the nicest manner either. Believe it or not, most of us on the ground do actually know what we're doing and we are constantly having to work with poor equipment/facilities/lack of man power etc. and we can only do so much with what we have before it becomes dangerous. We don't go into the f/deck during flight telling you guys to hurry up, do this, do that so a bit of mutual respect will go alot further than barking orders and throwing weight around which actually has the opposite effect !!.

Most of you guys are good as gold, just a few bad pennies still out there who may actually think twice now before shouting from the ivory tower !!.

:\ :ok:

[GBALU53]

Not the first time this has happened.
An Air U.K. FK27 at Aberdeen many years ago had a similar one with a GPU the driver drove the GPU into the prop and lost his life.
A BAE748 of Channel Airways down in Jersey many years ago did the same as the MNG, started to Taxy before the all clear, prop strikes GPU.
Are these happening due commercial pressure?
Not enough gound handles to do the start up?

From reading into these types of accidents GPU operating procedures should be ammended when aircraft are not on nose in stand parking, before someone gets injured or there is loss of life.

[JW411]

The Air UK F-27 fatal accident was at EDI and not at ABZ. I knew the chap concerned when he was a ground engineer with BAe at PIK. It was a hell of a way to leave the planet.

[amber 1]

Witnessed a Viscount taxi his no. 2 engine into the GPU at LSI in the mid 70's. Quite spectacular as bits of GPU sprayed all over the field. Heard the Skipper admit afterwards that he'd been in a bit of a hurry!

[757_Driver]

Where is Rainboe to pass comment on this accident?

He had plenty to say on the Astraeus incident at Gatwick which he blamed an inept tug driver for. So hopefully he will be on here soon to show that he is a reasonable man after all, and he'll berate the pilot for some very shoddy work with unemployment as a suggested result.

Doubt we'll see him though.

hardly a fair comparison as the flystar 737 at LGW was under tow with no flight crew, or indeed any flystar personel at all on board - so its difficult to see whom else to blame it probably wasn't the aircrafts fault and it probably wasn't the tugs fault adn there's only one other person involved!
Whereas this was clearly an event in an 'operational' environment.
I'm not going to sling mud, but I doubt the captain would have taxied if he didn't think he was clear and I doubt the ground crew would have given any signals if it wasn't clear, so obviously a breakdown in communication or situational awareness of some sort, and a lesson learned for everybody.

[groundhogbhx]

The thing that springs into my mind is that if the Captain was in that much of a hurry to go 1. were the brakes actually set to park and 2. was the isolating lever for the pneumatics in. The result of number 2 could be little or no brake pressure even if the park brake is set, depending on how long it had been parked and how badly the system leaks.

The out come of this could have been very different if the poor chap on ground power duty had been walking round to his cab at the time!!!

[RampTramp]

Taxiing before everything is clear is more common than you would think, it isn't, normally, so serious so doesn't hit the headlines. Frightens the h*ll out of the ground staff though!

I know of one major EU airline that uses one man push on towbarless tractors and has had multiple incidents over the past couple of years, luckily without major damage or injury.

I know well the pressures of OTP but please, everyone, if you haven't received the thumbs up & seen the pin - don't move!

RT

[tristar500]

Aircraft is currently being repaired by MNG Cargo employees at the GAT - Edinburgh Airport.

[Atreyu]

I think alot of the GPU's at EDI are in such a bad state of repair anyway that a wee bit of gaffer tape probably had that one hooked up later on :}

Or am I just being cynical? (just kidding aviance!):P

Atreyu:}

[Porrohman]

Aircraft is currently being repaired by MNG Cargo employees at the GAT - Edinburgh Airport.


It's now parked east of runway 12/30, and is still minus an engine (or two?). It looks like the fuselage was damaged by debris during the incident; http://www.airliners.net/photo/MNG-Kargo/Fokker-F-27-500-Friendship/1355035/L/&tbl=photo_info&photo_nr=1&prev_id=&next_id=1323748 (http://www.airliners.net/photo/MNG-Kargo/Fokker-F-27-500-Friendship/1355035/L/&tbl=photo_info&photo_nr=1&prev_id=&next_id=1323748)

Possibly beyond economic repair? Or maybe the insurance companies for the parties involved are arguing over who pays the bill?

[Busbert]

"Almost the end of a beautiful Friendship"
:ok:

[tristar500]

Aircraft sitting parked, minus the starboard engine. Been there for quite a few months now. Initially, a few Turkinsh engineers came over and did some work on the aircraft while it was parked at the GAT, but the work stopped and the aircraft was towed to where it is now. :(

[x933]

Is there an accident report kicking around anywhere?

[Hooligan Bill]

Aircraft sitting parked, minus the starboard engine. Been there for quite a few months now. Initially, a few Turkinsh engineers came over and did some work on the aircraft while it was parked at the GAT, but the work stopped and the aircraft was towed to where it is now.

Now minus leading edges as well. Seems to be having usable parts salvaged.

[tristar500]

Looks as though shes being broken up now. Saw her today minus rudder and various panels. The nose cone has gone also... :(